


A Dressing Room at the Edge of the Universe

by misereremolly



Series: A Wedding at the Edge of the Universe [2]
Category: Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: But she loves her grumpy mushroom boss/uncle, Everyone is alive again and everything is fine, Flash Fic, M/M, Spoilers for Episode 1x10, Spoilers for episode 1x11, Tilly talks a lot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-16
Updated: 2018-01-16
Packaged: 2019-03-05 17:31:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13392765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misereremolly/pseuds/misereremolly
Summary: Follow up to A Proposal at the Edge of the Universe. http://archiveofourown.org/works/13366182Tilly helps Paul get ready for his wedding.





	A Dressing Room at the Edge of the Universe

"I think this is the happiest day of my life. Or, actually, I think it's the second happiest. The first is definitely the day before yesterday, when you guys came back and saved us. And not just because you saved us, although that was really fucking cool, but because you were back! Like, really back and not dead! And then also because you guys asked me to plan your wedding, and then you asked me to be your, um, Best Woman or Maid of Honor or whatever, no one has ever--"

Paul threw up his hands against the onslaught. "Okay, just -- stop!"

"Sorry," Tilly gasped. "I'm. Just really honored and kind of surprised, to be honest--"

Paul glared. So did his computer-generated reflection.

The double-whammy didn't quite work.

"I just thought you always found me really annoying."

A guilty sigh escaped him. Just as Hugh had said.

"Tilly. There's no one else we would have trusted this to, that I would have trusted this to: booking the room, talking to Saru --"

"He was really flattered that you wanted him to officiate, by the way, I think he thought that you hated him--"

"Organizing the food, our uniforms. Whatever gets thrown your way, you always handle it. And you care. We see that. I see that."

He paused. Tilly's hands were clasped, her eyes huge.

"And I care, too."

An odd sound somewhere between a screech and a squeal slammed into his ears, and he was nearly knocked over when Tilly squeezed her arms around his middle in a big bear hug.

Then she started sniffling into his shoulder.

The past six hours since Hugh released him from their bed had been a whirlwind of emotional moments with all sorts of people, and it was all very weird in that he didn't actually feel weird about any of it.

It was nice.

Another moment passed with no abatement of sniffles. Paul figured he'd better do something so he wasn't late to his own wedding.

"Hey," he murmured gruffly. "Um. Your makeup."

Her head came up so abruptly that he barely pulled his own face away in time to avoid having his teeth knocked in. She grabbed handfuls of handkerchiefs and gently dabbed at the shoulder of his dress uniform before calling up a mirror of herself and wiping away the smudges on her face.

"Right! This isn't about me, it's your big day! You're about to commit the whole rest of your existence to the love of your life, and I'm probably not helping with any, you know, wedding jitters or whatnot. Are you nervous?"

He smoothed a hand down the front of his jacket, eyeing his reflection critically. "I wasn't," he muttered under his breath.

"Oh! Here, we made this for you. The lab."

Confused, Paul turned to see Tilly gesturing to a medium-sized box on a table. Upon further inspection the box turned out to be a cooler, which was even more puzzling.

"What is it?"

Tilly just smiled mysteriously and shrugged. He lifted the lid.

Inside was a small bouquet, no more than a couple of fist-sizes in diameter, rustic and simple and made almost entirely of mushrooms. Gently, he reached in and lifted it up. A couple of large-capped specimens anchored the center, surrounded by sprigs of green sage, edged by few sprays of _Flammulina velutipes._

Turning the bouquet in his hand, he noted that the mushrooms were all so carefully wrapped that they could even be transplanted later.

"You don't have to use it if you don't want to, we just thought that it would be a nice symbol--"

"It's perfect." He paused to swallow around a little lump in his throat. "Thank you."

Tilly beamed at him.

They turned to regard their reflections once more. Cadet and Lieutenant, scientist and scientist, friend and friend. Side by side, smiling mirror images of excitement and hope.

"You look amazing."

He smiled his appreciation. This was definitely the best he'd ever looked, but he couldn't wait to see Hugh -- always so effortlessly handsome.

"Are you ready? It's time."

Paul nodded.

"Mirrors off," they chorused, watching their images vanish before turning toward the door.

**Author's Note:**

> Link to the image that inspired the bouquet in this fic: https://goo.gl/images/onrWaV


End file.
